Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-08-19

had arrived here who reported that ne nad
come across white people in the interior.
Do you think that there was any truth in
his story? / ask because | have once or
twice in my life heard rumors from natives
who have come down from the far north,
of the existence of such a race
Mr.. Mackenzie, by way of answer, went
out of the room, and returned bringing
with him most curious sword. 1t was
long, and all the blade, which was very
thick and heavy, was, to within quarter
of an inch of the cutting edge, worked into
an ornamental pattern, exactly as we work
soft wood with fretsaw, the steel. how
ever, being invariably pierced in such a
way as not to interfere with the strength
of the sword. This in itself was sufficient
" curious; but what was still more SO was
that all the edges of the hollow spaces, cut
through the substance of the blade, We're
most beautifully inlaid with gold, which
was in some way, that cannot Understand,
welded on to the steel. (Since | saw the
above have examined hundreds of these
swords, but have never been able to dis
cover how the gold plates were inlaid in
the fretwork; the armorers who make them
in Zu-vendis binding themselves by oath
not to reveal the secret.)
There" said Mr. Mackenzie, "did you
ever see a sword like that"
We all examined it and shook our heads.
well, got it to show you, because this
is what the man who said he had seen the
white people brought with him, and be-
cause it does more or less give an air of
truth to what | should otherwise have set
down as lie. Look here; | will tell you
all that know about the matter, which is
not much One afternoon, just before sun
down, was sitting on the Yeranda, when
poor, miserable, starved-looking man
came limping up and squatted down be-
fore me. | asked him where he came from
and what he wanted; and thereon he
plunged into a long rambling narrative
about how he belonged to Il tribe far in the
north, and how his tribe was destroyed by
another tribe, and he, with a few other
survivors, driven still further north past
lake named Laga. Thence, it appears,
he made his way to another lake that lay
up in the mountains, u lake without a bot
tom, he called it, and here his wife and
brother died of an infectious sickness
probably -pox-whereon the people
drove him out of their villages into the
wilderness, where he wandered miserab!y
over mountains for ten days, after which
he got into dense thorn forests, and was
one day found there by some Qchitc men
who were hunting, and who took him TO a
place where all the people were white, and
lived in stone houses. Here he remained a
week shut up in a house, till one night a
man with a white beard, whom lie under
stood to be medicine man. came and in
spected him, after which he was led off
and taken through the thorn forest TO the
confines of the wilderness, and given food
and this sword lat least so he said, and
turned loose"
well" said Sir Henry, who had been
listening with breathless interest, "and
what did he do then?"
"Oh! he seems, according to his account,
to have gone through sufferings and hard
ships innumerable, and to have lived for
weeks on roots and berries, and such things
rs he could catch and kill. But somehow
he did live and at last, by slow degrees,
made his way south and reached this
place. What the details of his journey
were | never learnt; for | told him to re
turn on the morrow, bidding one of my
head men look after him for the night.
The head man took him away, but the
poor man had the itch 50 badly that the
head mans wife would not have him in
the hut for fear of catching il; SO he was
given a blanket and told to sleep outside
As it happened, we had lion hanging
about here Just then, and most ,mhappily
he winded this most unfortunate wander
er, and, springing on him, bit his head
right off without tn. people in the hut
knowing anything about it, and there was
an end of him and his story about the
white people; and whether or not there is
any truth in it is more than | can tell you.
What do you think, Mr.. Quartermain:'
i shook my head, and answered, Il don't
know. There are SO many queer things
hidden away in the heart Of this great con-
tinent that | should be sorry to assert that
there was none. Anyhow, we mean to try
and find out. We intend to journey to
Lckakisera, and thence, If we live to get
! SO far, to this Lake Laga; and, if there are
any white people beyond, we will do our
best to find them"
You are very yenturesome people, " said
Mr.. Mackenzie, with smile, and the sub
ject dropped.